/ world today news/ The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Daniel Mitov, is silent regarding the words of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who thinks about Kardzhali in the same way as about Edirne. This silence betrays some dependence. It’s scandalous!
It is not the first time that the Turkish president has made territorial claims to Balkan countries. A year and a half ago, he redrew the Islamic arc of the Balkans, expanding it with Targovishte and Shumen. Then our foreign ministry did not protest. Today we have a similar reaction. Daniel Mitov read Erdogan’s speech and says there is nothing to worry about. This was not a matter of boundaries, but of his heartfelt passion. What hobby?
A president who is an authoritarian dictator in Turkey cannot say that everything is on his heart – from Kardzhali to Siberia. Kardzhali is close to Erdogan’s heart, and to me Lozengrad and Bunarhisar, where my grandfather died at the age of 34 during the Balkan War /1912-1913/ His grave has been obliterated.
In Erdoğan’s statements, the alliance between Islamism and neo-Ottomanism is synthesized. In Ankara, they already imagine that they can restore the geopolitical space of the Ottoman Empire to the Balkans, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Siberia. This is unheard of in light of Erdogan’s revision of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk /1923-1938/. The latter preached that the Republic of Turkey had nothing to do with the Ottoman Empire. And Erdoğan says the exact opposite: “We were brought up, as in Atatürk’s time, that we should confine ourselves only to Anatolia. No. We must open up in all three directions – to the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus and Central Asia”. This is a very dangerous phenomenon and threat.
There is an imperial frenzy in Ankara and it is very dangerous. But in Turkey they are well aware that these territories on three continents cannot be returned with a scimitar. Their return will take place through economic, political, religious and cultural means.
But we in Sofia cannot allow someone to say that they do not differentiate between Edirne and Kardzhali. This is scandalous.
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry must roll up its sleeves and protect our national interest. We have a mixed Bulgarian-Turkish commission, which has not been working for many years. Erdogan said leave your refugees from South Thrace, we also have refugees from Bulgaria. They don’t have refugees, they have expatriates.
Official Sofia must tell Ankara: do not confuse refugees with emigrants!
Unfortunately, our foreign ministry imagines that there is no threat from Turkey. But let’s not forget what happened in Cyprus in 1984. There is a Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that is only recognized by Ankara, but it continues to exist.
There is a threat. Watching Erdogan’s speeches in front of these multi-million rallies, he reminds me of Hitler in 1938. He speaks without reading and waves his fists at the EU and the USA. Erdogan feels like the new father of Turkey, the new sultan. It’s very worrying, we have to rely on our own strength.
Events are brewing and here, in Sofia, the rulers should be alarmed, not divert their attention and think about our south-eastern border. We mustn’t be fooled – the threat is brewing from the southeast.
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Academician Georgi Markov, director of the Institute of History at the BAS.
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